Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z

ドラゴンボールＺ
1989 -1996 Toei Animation Fuji TV 291 episodes Completed
Action Adventure Martial Arts
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Details & Synopsis
Before Naruto. Before Bleach. Before the Big Three had a name. There was Dragon Ball Z, and for an entire generation of Western kids in the 1990s, Dragon Ball Z was simply anime. The category and the example were the same thing.

Produced by Toei Animation and directed by Daisuke Nishio, Dragon Ball Z aired on Fuji TV from 1989 to 1996, 291 episodes following the adult Goku and his allies across four escalating sagas: the Saiyan invasion, Frieza on Namek, the androids and Cell, and the decade-spanning weight of Majin Buu. Akira Toriyama's power scaling, once a comedy mechanic in the original Dragon Ball, became mythology here. Transformations as revelation. The Super Saiyan moment. Gohan vs. Cell in a fight still being argued about. The power level debate started here, and it has never actually ended.

In the West the story gets more complicated, and more interesting. Ocean Productions dubbed it first, a version truncated, edited, scored by Bruce Faulconer's electric guitar-driven replacement soundtrack that an entire generation now considers inseparable from the show itself. Cartoon Network ran it in syndication. Toonami ran it in the afternoon slot that trained a demographic to expect anime at 4pm. Kids who had never heard the word fansub knew every Kamehameha, every Spirit Bomb, every moment of dead air in a Frieza fight that took four episodes to cover forty five seconds.

Funimation eventually acquired full rights and started over: the uncut version, the original Kikuchi score, the complete run. Then came Dragon Ball Z Kai, the remaster that trimmed the series to its canonical bones, cutting the extended powering up sequences that had always been the show's most honest flaw.

The Seed of Might project sits apart from all of it. 291 episodes, fully color and audio graded, built as a preservation effort rather than a rebroadcast or a resale. It exists because the complete series deserved that kind of treatment while the actual licensing rights were still tangled up in dispute, not because it was ever meant to compete with an official release. This site documents that project's history as part of the record, the same way it documents every other chapter of how this show reached the West.

The power level arguments are still happening. The show is still here.
Alt Title ドラゴンボールＺ
Studio Toei Animation
Network Fuji TV
Aired 1989 - 1996
Episodes 291
Genre Action, Adventure, Martial Arts
Status Completed
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Technique Encyclopedia

About This Page

How to Read the Technique Encyclopedia

This page is a reference shelf, not a ranking of who is strongest. Technique entries explain what an attack or ability does, where it matters and what makes it distinctive in the anime.

Named techniques can change users, scale or purpose over time. A move being listed here does not mean every use is identical.

Turtle & Crane School

Archival note

A tactical ledger of major energy waves, utility arts, and physical strikes across Dragon Ball history - mechanics, originators, and battlefield utility. Duplicates of earlier short blurbs are intentional upgrades.

Kamehameha

Master Roshi · Energy Wave
The gold standard of ki manipulation. The practitioner draws latent bodily energy into a tightly compressed sphere between cupped palms before thrusting the hands forward in a surging vector. Roshi spent half a century perfecting its output; Goku's raw kinetic genius let him replicate the wave after a single look.

Famous variants: Feet-Fired Kamehameha - mid-air downward booster at the 23rd World Tournament so the hands stay free. Instant Transmission Kamehameha - charge at range, teleport point-blank into the target's face.
Master Roshi

Super Kamehameha

Son Goku · Maximum Output Wave
The high-density combat escalation of the standard Kamehameha. By forcing maximum ki compression into the palms, the user fires an overwhelming beam capable of engulfing entire battlefields. Goku first unveiled it against Piccolo Jr. at the 23rd World Tournament.
Son Goku

Instant Transmission Kamehameha

Son Goku · Point-Blank Spatial Wave
A genius tactical combination of Yardrat teleportation and Turtle School energy focus. Goku charges a full-power Super Kamehameha in the air, baiting the target into preparing for an aerial beam, then teleports directly in front of their chest a millisecond before firing.
Son Goku

Dodon Ray (Dodonpa)

Mercenary Tao / Master Shen · Piercing Needle
The signature lethal art of the Crane School. Unlike the wide concussive impact of the Kamehameha, the Dodon Ray condenses ki into an ultra-thin, searing beam fired from the index finger designed to pierce vital organs.

Kikoho (Tri-Beam)

Master Shen / Tien · Life-Force Blast
A devastating Crane School technique executed by framing the opponent in a triangular hand sight. Rather than drawing purely on standard ki, the Tri-Beam converts the caster's stamina and vital life force into concussive pressure. The square crater erases targets completely - and repeated use carries a near-certain mortality risk for the user. Tien's answer when power level math says he should already be dead.

Neo Tri-Beam (Shin Kikoho)

Tien Shinhan · Rapid Life-Force Barrage
An upgraded, hyper-rapid variant of the original Kikoho. Tien converts his remaining vital life force into a continuous, rapid-fire volley of square concussive blasts. Capable of pinning foes far above Tien's power level into the earth.
Tien Shinhan

Spirit Ball (Soukidan)

Yamcha · Wirelessly Guided Ki Orb
Yamcha's proudest original innovation. Condenses ki into a dense, glowing orb that can be remotely steered through mid-air using hand gestures. Even if dodged, Yamcha can guide the ball back around or pop it upward out of the ground to hit an opponent's blind spot.
Yamcha

Wolf Fang Fist (Roga Fufu-ken)

Yamcha · High-Velocity Predatory Combo
A high-speed martial arts combination that channels the feral speed of a wild wolf. Blends clawing palm strikes and sharp footwork before delivering a heavy double-palm impact to the chest.
Yamcha

Taiyoken (Solar Flare)

Tien Shinhan · Photonic Flash
Converts internal energy into a blinding, high-frequency flash of white light aimed at an opponent's optic nerves. Zero lethality on its own. Near-perfect escape or setup utility against foes with vastly superior power levels. Krillin, Goku, and even Cell use it when cornered - the show's quiet admission that three seconds of blindness can beat raw PL.
Tien Shinhan

Afterimage Technique (Zanzoken)

Master Roshi / Z-Fighters · Kinetic Speed Silhouette
A high-speed evasion maneuver where the fighter moves so fast they leave behind a optical ghost image of themselves. Foes waste powerful strikes on empty air while the caster repositions behind them.
Master Roshi

Divine & Otherworld Arts

Kaio-ken (King Kai's Fist)

King Kai / Son Goku · Metabolic Multiplier
A high-risk power amplification art taught on King Kai's planet. Kaio-ken forces a sudden, surging multiplier across strength, speed, and reflexes, glowing with a crimson aura. The catch: it rapidly tears muscle tissue apart and can destroy the user's body if over-pushed.
Son Goku King Kai

Spirit Bomb (Genki Dama)

King Kai / Son Goku · Environmental Energy Gathering
The ultimate weapon of pure light. Goku raises his arms to draw micro-fragments of life force from surrounding grass, water, atmosphere, and living beings into an ultra-dense sphere. Because it draws on natural life energy, it can only be safely controlled by a pure-hearted caster.
Son Goku King Kai

Telepathy & Ki Sensing

King Kai / Kami / Goku · Sensory & Neural Link
The ability to detect life force signatures across planetary distances without electronic scouters. High-tier practitioners can transmit thoughts telepathically across dimensional boundaries or read memories with a gentle palm on the forehead.
Kami King Kai

Saiyan Military Arsenal

Galick Gun

Prince Vegeta · Anti-Planetary Wave
The Saiyan royal signature beam. Hands draw back to the chest in an inverted stance, gathering purple high-density energy before driving it forward. Built for atmospheric destruction - its raw output mirrored Goku's Kaio-ken x3 Kamehameha in their first Earth showdown, beam vs beam, planet in the middle.
Vegeta

Double Sunday

Raditz · Dual Energy Beam
Raditz's signature opening salvo. Raditz charges purple ki in both hands before firing two parallel, high-speed beams outward, forcing opponents to split their defense.
Raditz

Giant Storm (Volcano Explosion)

Nappa · Upward Tectonic Eruption
Nappa's wide-area destruction move. By raising two fingers upward, Nappa triggers an immediate, apocalyptic volcanic explosion underneath an entire city or landmass, reducing surrounding architecture to ash.
Nappa

Power Ball (Buru Tsu Shosha)

Prince Vegeta · Artificial Lunar Radiance
A specialized Saiyan military technique designed for planetary invasion. The user mixes oxygen from the atmosphere with a compressed ball of internal ki to construct an artificial miniature moon emitting 17,000,000 Brute Waves, triggering Great Ape transformations.
Vegeta

Dirty Fireworks (Hanabi)

Prince Vegeta · Internal Kinetic Detonation
A cold, point-blank execution technique from Vegeta's mercenary days under Frieza. Pointing two fingers at a paralyzed or helpless target, Vegeta injects raw ki under their skin, causing their body to violently explode into red mist from the inside out.
Vegeta

Big Bang Attack

Prince Vegeta · Compressed Ki Sphere
Introduced with Vegeta's Super Saiyan debut against Android 19. Open palm forward, fingers splayed - a massive aura condensed into an ultra-dense glowing orb that detonates on impact in an apocalyptic mushroom cloud. Ordnance, not a conversation.
Vegeta

Final Flash

Prince Vegeta · Apocalyptic Beam
Peak Saiyan energy compression. Arms spread wide to gather environmental and biological energy, then palms snap into an extreme focal lock. The golden beam is wide enough to read from deep space - Vegeta narrowed the trajectory against Perfect Cell on purpose so he would not split Earth in half along with the target. Still one of the most devastating things anyone throws in the series. Cell survived it anyway.
Vegeta

Continuous Die Die Missile

Gotenks · High-Rate Ki Barrage
Gotenks' unhinged variant of the classic ki rapid-fire volley. Rather than controlled single shots, Gotenks fires dozens of explosive ki rounds per second, obscuring the battlefield in smoke and cratering the target area.
Gotenks

Final Explosion (Saishyuu Saigo no Waza)

SPOILER! Majin Vegeta · Life-Force Detonation
Vegeta's ultimate self-sacrificial nuclear strike. By converting his flesh, blood, and entire remaining soul into an explosive dome of pure, unbridled golden energy, Vegeta detonates a blast spanning kilometers wide, leaving his own body a petrified stone shell.
Vegeta

Cutting & Piercing Arts

Kienzan (Destructo Disc)

Krillin · Razor Energy Disc
The ultimate equalizer in power-scaling history. Flat, ultra-high-frequency ki spun atop an open hand into a razor disc that ignores conventional durability. It nicked Nappa's cheek, severed Great Ape Vegeta's tail, and cut Frieza in half - proof that spatial density can beat raw power level. Krillin's entire cast value in one move.
Krillin

Death Slicer (Tsuibi Kienzan)

Frieza · Homing Energy Razor
Frieza's razor-disc variant created to mirror Krillin's Kienzan. Frieza forms telekinetically guided red energy discs that actively pursue the target through the air. Highly lethal, though dangerous to the caster if control is broken.
Frieza

Burning Slash

Future Trunks · High-Velocity Sword Grid
Future Trunks' signature blade execution. Trunks unleashes a high-speed blitz of rapid sword slashes that dissects the target into a dozen airborne cubes before vaporizing the fragments with a single-handed ki wave.
Future Trunks

Makankosappo (Special Beam Cannon)

Piccolo · Piercing Drill Beam
Designed by Piccolo to bypass Goku's physical defenses when they were still enemies. Two fingers to the forehead, ki compressed past the user's base threshold over a long charge. Fired as a straight piercing beam wrapped in a spiral helix - ignores surface armor and drills the core. First use takes out Goku and Raditz in one shot. The origin story remains "I built a Goku-killer," even after decades as family.
Piccolo

Forbidden & Magic Arts

Mafuba (Evil Sealing Wave)

Master Mutaito · Sealing Kinjutsu
Ancient forbidden sealing art built to trap immortal or demonic entities in a physical vessel - thermos, rice cooker, whatever holds. The user weaves a spiraling green vortex that binds the target and steers them into the container. Success drains the caster's life force to empty. Instant death for a clean seal. The bill is the technique.

Vice Shout (Dimensional Rift)

Super Buu / Gotenks SSJ3 · Vocal Space Tear
A dimensional-breaking shockwave produced purely by vocal power. When trapped inside an enclosed space (like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber), extreme rage or exertion allows the user to scream so loud it fractures space-time, tearing an open wormhole back to the mortal plane.
Gotenks

Super Ghost Kamikaze Attack

Gotenks · Ectoplasmic Mines
Fusion absurdity with teeth. The user spits translucent, sentient ghost figures - each with its own personality - that act as kinetic landmines. Touch a surface or a target and they detonate. Bizarre. Effective. Peak Gotenks.
Gotenks

Solar Kamehameha

SPOILER! Super Perfect Cell · System-Destroying Beam
Cell's ultimate Kamehameha fired after recovering from his self-destruction Zenkai. Powered by his composite DNA and Super Saiyan 2 bio-electricity, Cell claimed the raw output had enough explosive kinetic energy to obliterate the entire Solar System.
Cell

Demon Clan & Namekian Heritage

Masenko (Demon Flash)

Son Gohan / Piccolo · Dual-Palm Overhead Blast
Gohan's initial signature energy wave taught to him by Piccolo. The practitioner places both palms above the forehead to gather golden ki before thrusting hands forward to launch a rapid, high-impact beam.
Son Gohan Piccolo

Hellzone Grenade (Kakusandan)

Piccolo · Omnidirectional Trapping Array
A high-level tactical Namekian setup. Piccolo fires dozens of wild, seemingly erratic ki blasts into the surrounding air space that stop mid-flight to envelope the target. With a single wrist snap, all suspended orbs implode inward simultaneously.
Piccolo

Regeneration (Saisei)

Namekian Species / Cell · Cellular Restoration
The biological capability of Namekians to regrow severed limbs or torn organs in seconds, provided the brain core remains intact. The process drains physical stamina, requiring proportional energy to restore heavy tissue damage.
Cell

Frieza Force & Mercenary Ordnance

Body Change (Change!)

Captain Ginyu · Neural Soul Swap
Captain Ginyu's absolute trump card. By shouting "Change!", Ginyu projects a beam of light from his mouth into an opponent's open mouth, instantly swapping soul matrixes and taking full motor control of the victim's high-power body.
Captain Ginyu

Time Freeze

Guldo · Respiratory Temporal Stasis
Guldo's absolute temporal manipulation trick. By holding his breath, Guldo physically stops the flow of time for everyone in the surrounding area, allowing him to position spikes or escape high-speed attacks effortlessly.
Guldo

Crusher Ball

Jeice · Red Plasma Sphere
Jeice's signature projectile. Condenses superheated red ki over an open palm, spinning it into an ultra-dense plasma ball before hurling it like a pitcher.
Jeice

Death Beam (Yubidan)

Frieza · High-Velocity Piercing Laser
Frieza's preferred execution strike. A laser-thin, near-instantaneous beam fired from the index finger that drills clean through target muscle and armor. Designed for quick, silent assassinations.
Frieza

Supernova

Frieza / King Cold · Anti-Planetary Magma Sphere
Frieza's planet-killing superweapon. Frieza forms a microscopic dot of fire on the tip of his finger that rapidly expands into a sun-sized sphere of flaming plasma, heavy enough to push through defense beams and detonate a planet's core.
Frieza

Eraser Cannon

Recoome · Mouth-Charged Kinetic Ordnance
Recoome's signature heavy blast. Charging a massive ball of light inside his wide-open mouth, Recoome fires a thick beam capable of vaporizing island landmasses and breaking bones through raw impact pressure.
Recoome

Android & Cyborg Systems

Energy Drain (Ki Absorber)

Androids 19 & 20 (Dr. Gero) · Biological Drain
A mechanical energy extraction system built into the palm nodes of absorption-type androids. Grappling an opponent allows the palm sensors to siphon internal ki directly out of the victim's body to recharge internal mechanical batteries.
Dr. Gero

Android Barrier

Androids 17 & 18 · Infinite Energy Shield
A spherical defensive barrier generated by pushing continuous power out of the body's energy core. Fueled by Dr. Gero's perpetual motion engines, the barrier is near-impenetrable, shrugging off high-tier ki waves without draining stamina.

Hell's Flash (Inferno Blast)

Android 16 · Sub-Surface Nuclear Cannons
Android 16's heaviest artillery strike. 16 detaches both hands at the wrists to reveal high-output gun barrels built directly into his forearms, then fires dual high-density thermal beams into the ground beneath his target.
Android 16

Majin Magic & Ancient Sorcery

Majin Curse (Mind Manipulation)

Babidi · Dark Heart Subjugation
Babidi's dark mind-control spell. Targets the latent evil, pride, or greed within a victim's heart, placing them under his telepathic command while granting them a massive power boost (and branding an "M" on their forehead). High-willpower subjects can defy his orders while keeping the power boost.
Babidi

Transfiguration Beam (Chocolate Beam)

Majin Buu · Molecular Confectionery Ray
Majin Buu's magical transmutation ray fired directly from his head antenna. The beam alters the atomic structure of living targets, turning them into chocolate, candy, or clay while preserving their consciousness until consumed.
Majin Buu

Human Genocide Attack

Super Buu · Stratospheric Homing Rain
The single most devastating area-of-effect attack in the series. Super Buu floats into the upper atmosphere, senses every human ki signature across the planet simultaneously, and fires thousands of homing ki needles that rain down to wipe out Earth's population in seconds.

Vanishing Ball

Kid Buu · Planet-Erasing Dark Ki Sphere
Kid Buu's casual planet-destroying attack. Formed over his head as a condensed ball of pink and black energy, it destabilizes planetary cores instantly on contact. Kid Buu uses this to destroy Earth seconds after awakening into his original form.

Stone Spit (Petrification)

Dabura · Ocular Neural Petrification
The signature dark magic of the Demon King Dabura. By spitting saliva directly onto an opponent or their equipment, the targeted tissue or armor instantly turns into brittle, lifeless stone until Dabura is destroyed.
Dabura